r/AskAcademiaUK

How many hours per week did you spend on your PhD?
And what were you studying?
I am particularly interested in hearing from people with childcare or caring responsibilities.

I’ve been debating for a few years various PhDs but they’ve never quite fitted and my kid was too young to go after it seriously. I am now seriously considering a specific PhD in social sciences as it is so well aligned with my career and goals. However, it is full time and my child doesn’t start school for another year and I may have to do some childcare juggling.

Hi everyone,

I would really appreciate to hear some insight from academics across the UK. I've been at a post-92 in a STEM subject (chemistry) since 2022. I'm not in an actual chemistry department, but more of a 'science' department.

I was immediately hired from my PhD with an excellent publication record relative to the point in my career, and I finished my PhD with 9 articles, 4 first author. I also had lots of awards throughout my time as an undergraduate, but I know that those are mostly irrelevant now. However, being 4 years deep now, I have no major grants besides an internal grant worth around £25k which bought me a piece of equipment and some time (which really, didn't buy me any actual time). I haven't actually applied for any external grants (e.g. New Investigator) because I really don't know what I'm doing! It also feels really hard during term time to focus on any research, and then I feel so burnt out, frustrated and angry at the system when summer rolls around, that nothing ever happens!

I'm approaching the end of my 4th academic year and I'm feeling REALLY anxious about my future prospects. I'm worried that I'm de-skilling, I'm feeling completely lost with how to effectively build a research career (given a feeling that I'm lacking personnel and resources), and I'm worried that I'm not going to appear particularly employable soon. Can anybody offer me a grain of advice on all of these fronts? Is anybody else feeling similarly? Anything would be appreciated!

So i am examining a thesis (as internal) in the next few weeks, and just sat down with it. This is not my first one; i have been internal, external and chair for plenty (i'm in health sciences). It's pretty solid lab work.

However, one of the chapters is word for word publication (they have noted this, provided the doi etc), and the candidate is not first author, nor corresponding (and also in the paper, did not write the original draft).

There are plenty of other chapters in the thesis so i think there is enough pass without this chapter - but is it me, or is it a bit weird to put it in?

As part of annual promotion round, my university (non-RG, pre-92 with strong research focus) uses a criteria based approach across the main domains of activity - teaching, research and citizenship. Having spoken to senior colleagues, I have been told I will easily meet the research and citizenship criteria (have strong publication and grant records), but they recommended that I boost my evidence for excellence in teaching & student experience. My uni doesn't use module evaluation surveys anymore and some of the criteria relate to education strategy/leadership which I don't have experience of. I am in a social science dept, and lead 2-3 modules a year plus contributions to 3-4 other modules. Have no programme leadership experience but have been programme EE in other unis.

Any recommendations on how I can take a strategic approach to consolidating my teaching excellence portfolio? Could HE pedagogical research be a good way in?

Hello,

Does anyone have any experience with the British Academy International Fellowship? I applied this year and will hear back in August, but at the moment I am feeling it was quite useless to spend all of that time on it because everyone seems to say it's basically a lottery/impossible to get. Does anyone have different experiences? Or did anyone else apply so I feel less alone?

Hey everyone, I am from the UK and want to attend Oxford for an MPhil in Political Theory. The only problem is that even if I got the place, I couldn't afford to go. Getting a scholarship seems out of reach, and I am not by any means an exceptionally exceptional student, but I am passionate and dedicated. I know that's not enough. I wonder if anyone can give me some advice about how I would go about funding this, or if it's just not worth my while.

It's tough because this is my dream Master's and I would do anything to be able to go here. I know some people from Oxford, but most are rich, and their parents funded their studies, so they can't offer me valuable advice.

Any further advice about gathering references and strengthening application would be great :)

I'm currently in the process of applying to a research technician role and I saw that the post said "informal enquiries to the professor are encouraged". I was thinking of writing an email introducting myself and telling them about my research background and interests, is there anything else I should add? I'm not exactly sure on how to express myself as I've never done this cold email thing before.

Obviously it's a huge amount of money invested in something that may not work, but is it akin to 'vanity publishing' where they'll accept any old candidate because they are free labor, and skimp on supervision because it's not costing the collage anything?

EDIT: I'm not knocking the quality of a successful self funded PhD as it would have to go through the normal external examination etc, I'm more questioning if the chances of said success are lower because they are not being selected as best (and most likely to succeed) candidate, but as best person willing to work for free.

Probably a dumb question - but I'm not sure how excited to get.

I've been interviewed and accepted as a preferred candidate for a fully funded PhD (Scotland). For that I sent the professor my CV/motivations etc, then we had an interview.

They have accepted, but told me this is pending university acceptance. How likely is it I might not get past this stage? Or has anythign similar happened to others?

I got an offer from ETH in Switzerland and UCL in the UK. Both MSc are in engineering and policy but I can‘t decide both are ranked 8th worldwide. Hence I decided to also consider the elite/prestige factor. Would you say UCL is an elite prestigous Uni?

My main thought: When applying for a position with identical profiles and it comes to uni brand recognition would UCL or ETH win.

Sorry if this is the wrong sub but as it's more specific than just "where do I sell books" I hoped to get better answers here!

Been toying with giving up on academia for a while now but several friends have lost their jobs or found out they're at risk of losing their jobs in the past 18 months; I'm ready to close the door, and I am enjoying my secure academic-adjacent role. I have a tonne of academic books (critical theory, cultural theory, philosophy, politics, literary criticism) that are probably worth a bit of money. I'm not fussed about getting what I paid for them, obviously a bit of cash would be nice, but they're too niche to sell through WoB and Music Magpie (as in, these literally won't take them). Obviously there's eBay but I wondered if there was anywhere else that I haven't thought of or aren't aware of?

Alternatively I don't know if a donation to a library would be possible/appropriate as a way to get rid quickly and feel like I've done a good deed.

Does anyone know whether the branches of UK universities write in the diploma, transcript or diploma supplement that the studies were conducted in the local city, not UK?

I did an interview for a funded PhD project and the professor said I didn’t get the funding but I should consider a self funded one if I want. I asked him for the breakdown of the cost and he said that it would cost about 25k for the tuition and then other costs for the visa and accommodation costs would also be done by me. He mentioned that there is a funding that there is a high chance of getting that would reduce the tuition to 5k, for some reason I read the email as reducing the tuition by 5k, making it 21k. So I replied that I could not continue with that amount. It’s been about 8 weeks and I decided to look at his email again and just noticed the mistake I made. What do my chances look like if I send an email saying I made a mistake in declining.

Hi all, I have an up coming PhD interview where I have to present a recent project I have done. However, I am slightly stuck on what to actually present, as I have been out of academia for a year and have been in grad role.

Gauging from this subreddit, the aim of these presentations is generally to show your research abilities. Originally I was going to do something I have done at my current job, however I am worried it will not be what the interviewers are looking for and it would be safer to do something from my master's, despite it being from over a year ago.

What would be the best course of action? I do not want to bomb the interview by taking the prompt too literally rather than doing something more appropriate.

So. I know this is almost a pointless post because realistically im aware the answer is probably no.

For some background and it is long winded and kind of TMI, but i feel ot sets the stage for how much ive fought for this and how much i want it which is relevant.

im a 28 year old woman who has come from a very very poor west yorkshire background, my family income growing up was 6k a year, my mum didnt work often due to mental health issues and she was accidentally abusive because of it which was traumatising at times.

i grew up in a council house which had a corregated iron sheet instead of a front door when we moved in, we didnt have enough food sometimes, had our power cut off. Proper four yorkshireman sketch stuff, grandparents were coal miners and all that.

I worked hard at our low funded school and got good grades and started my degree in 2016.

Then at the beginning of my second year my mum suddenly died due to a chest infection and COPD.

i persevered and moved away to go back to uni 2 weeks after her funeral and 5 months later whilst on the way to an exam i got the call my sister was in a coma with similar disease as to what had killed my mum.

whilst she was in the coma came the date that was mums 50th birthday, mothers day, and the 6 month anniversary of her death all in one week and i had no choice but to drop out whilst i sat by her bedside for weeks

By some miracle my sister survived.

I went back the following year and had to drop out again as i had developed PTSD and severe illness OCD to the point the topics of my biomedical science degree actively triggered it.

In late 2019 i transfered to a university closer to home due to restart second year september 2020 as i thought being closer to my dad would help quiet my anxieties about him suddenly dying.

Dad got diagnosed with COPD in early 2020 and then came the chest infection based pandemic. I only made it 2 months into university this time before landing myself in hospital with my mental health and being told i had run out of student finance. I had to leave for a third time.

I had therapy, got on medication, found out i had autism and got jobs in labs to raise money to start my degree from scratch, determined not to let this all rob my dream of doing my PHD

I later found out in august 2022 i could have applied to get my student finance back under compelling personal reasons this whole time and so with 3 weeks noticed moved across the country and restarted my degree in 2022.

After some crowd funding i fininshed it this time, and ive since gone on to get engaged to my wonderful partner and im about to finish a masters in genomic medicine despite having found out recently the blood clotting issues that plagued my nan (died at 50 years old) mum (died 49 years old) and sister (alive, but had bilateral Pulmonary embolisms at 32 years old) are genetic and i have them, and that i have autoimmune pain and fatigue conditions and a few other things which alongisde my PTSD and illness OCD has been difficult.

My partner is self funding his PHD right now but its in a field where he has no costs other than tuition and is only in university once a month, thus he works and has an income of around £800 a week. We both live off this money and live with my soon to be mother in law. We only pay £150 a month in rent. We dont pay bills other than phone, food, travel, and netflix etc subscriptions.

I have just been offered to do a self funded PHD in the lab im currently doing my masters research project in. The doctoral loan will cover tuition and 5k of bench fees, my supervisor has basically offered to cover the rest of the bench fees and help me with grant applications. So i will have to take out the loan to cover bench and tuition and it will cover all of that, but i will have 0 living stipend unless i can get grants.

If you cant see from what ive battled through to get here, i really really want this. Its in a perfect area im so interested in, and fully funded positions in this area basically no longer exist. Id have to wait years or move across the country (which i cant do due to my fiances PhD) before getting another opportunity.

But i cant help but feel like it would be foolish.

Does anyone have any advice?

I’m currently in the inbetween phase where I’m completing my masters, still awaiting grades and looking for jobs. I applied to PhD programmes and got an offer with no funding, seeing as it’s July I know the probability of funding coming up is unlikely so I plan to eventually defer my admission to next year, however, I’m now confused on what I should do when I’m done with my masters. I’m constantly on job sites and I’ve cold emailed academics but nothing has come up yet. I don’t want to have a gap in my CV or any time off my ‘career’ since I know what I want to do. My question is, how do I actually find something worth doing to actually sustain me in terms of living cost and gain experience in a humanities role that leads to my end goal (becoming an academic)?

I've been trying for a PhD in social science for the last two years as an international student. I've attended too many interviews and cracked two top-tier universities, but received no funding. I feel like I can't bear the burden of applying again. I was rejected by some very prestigious institutions after the interview, mostly after the interviewer asked me how I would manage funding. I also passed some universities' first screening phases but wasn't called for an interview.

In the UK, cracking a top-tier university even without funding is tough. Mid-tier universities won't accept you unless you have self-funded options. Even at lower-ranked universities, supervisors barely reply.

I've tried reaching out to professors in Australia and New Zealand, but they require a very good profile and a high CGPA, which I don't have. For European universities, I've given my best, reached out to professors, and applied for projects. I barely get a response from them. Once, I was shortlisted for an interview at a very reputable European university, but they never called me because they found their first interview applicant was a perfect fit for their PhD. It feels like European universities have a limited number of students and they pick from their bachelor's or master's students. They mostly prefer home students and are very calculating about international students.

I'm applying with minimum requirements; a profile like mine wouldn't dare to dream of a PhD. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I've decided to move into academia and pursue a PhD. It seems impossible to land a funded PhD. I know people who completed their master's from Oxbridge with very good profiles, and they failed to secure funding. And here I am, with lower-mid-tier results, dreaming of a funded PhD, ha ha ha. Though I did crack one royal institution for my PhD, where most of the students are from Oxbridge. It's a very prestigious program.

In one of my funded interviews from a QS top 10 university, I did really well, but after five months, they officially said that this year there were so many qualified candidates and massive competition. That actually broke me. This interview was the best interview of my entire life. I literally stopped applying after this interview.

I know I'm a really good student, but back in my bachelor's days, I was careless about my studies. Now I'm suffering for that. I don't know what to do. If I don't do a PhD this year, I'm not doing it again. I'm tired. I gave my everything for a funded PhD and am returning with nothing. In the last 20-22 months, I did one part-time job, worked on one book chapter, prepared one article for submission, and made two proposals for my PhD. I've invested too much in this PhD; I can't turn back. A self-funded PhD isn't an option for me; I can't afford it. But I desperately want to stay in academia and prove myself.

I don't know what to do. I've lost all hope. For the last two or three months, I've done nothing out of frustration, and I can't get over it.

Even when I try to apply for a job, I can't apply properly because I can't stop thinking about a PhD.

Now I'm applying for jobs, and recruiters say my visa will expire within a few months. I don't know what to do. Sharing just my grave frustration, I feel like by opting for a PhD, I lost everything.

Has anyone received any offer from UCL or University of Manchester for their PhDs if they applied coz i am still waiting on it.

I had applied for both of them around late January 2026, and I still havent received any decision. Secondly I had applied for Physics course, to be starting from September/October 2026.